Take This Soul
by tessellateheart
Summary: Boyd hates the way Erica chooses to portray herself, and Erica… Erica just hates Boyd.


**So this is pretty much my first ever fic, and I'm not even really sure why I chose to use Berica but I hope you enjoy. Oh, and no one beta'd this so if anything sucks just blame it on me. Reviews are very much welcomed and wanted.**

* * *

"You know, you're doing yourself a real disservice dressing like that."

The blonde, who had been engrossed in checking her appearance in a small bit of broken mirror, turned sharply, hand instinctively clenching around the jagged piece of glass. "What did you just say?" she practically growled, a hint of yellow flashing across her irises. Blood was dripping down her fingers, freely flowing but easily ignored. The wounds would heal as soon as she dropped the mirror anyways.

The dark-skinned male merely shrugged, as though he wasn't the one to bring up the topic in the first place. He had that bored yet slightly amused look, that same expression that he almost always wore, and it made the female's blood boil even more. "Don't think it isn't obvious, Erica," he began, words coming out just slow enough to match the look of disinterest on his face. "So you used to be the poor epileptic girl that no one liked. So what? Now you're overcompensating, wearing as little as possible and acting like you own the world." It was funny, the words were supposed to be and insult and yet they came off with practically no emotion behind them whatsoever.

If looks could kill, however, the one Erica was now shooting her fellow pack mate would be enough to send Boyd straight to hell. "You don't know anything," she shot back, turning her back to him, the shard of mirror finally falling from her hand and shattering into pieces on the floor of the train car.

* * *

A soft grunt passed through the bulky male's lips, doubled over in a dark corner of the abandoned station. If injuries were proof of anything, Derek had chosen to make Boyd his personal target during the training session earlier that day. One of his shattered ribs had literally pierced through his skin, leaving Boys in the position where he physically had to push it back inside of his body before the healing process could correctly begin.

"You okay?" The voice seemingly came from nowhere, or perhaps Boyd had been too caught up in the fact that his healing was happening much more gruelingly than normal due to what he assumed were a number of internal injuries. Even with his heightened senses, the male could barely make out the blonde haired figure standing a few feet away until she took a few steps closer and crouched down next to him. His eyes wandered over her for a moment and with a smirk he finally looked back up, realizing that she'd traded her revealing outfits for something a bit more… practical. At first Erica looked confused, but the realization settled in quickly and within a split second she was on her feet and stalking away from him.

"Go to hell, Boyd," she called over her shoulder, not even bothering to look back at him.

* * *

In the beginning Boyd had thought that getting the bite, becoming this supernatural creature was going to somehow change his social status amongst the students at Beacon Hill, make him some sort of hotshot like what had happened to McCall after he'd turned. That wasn't the case for him as it would turn out though, which was why instead of being out on a Friday night, being invited to parties or having dates with hot girls, Boyd was hunkered down in one of the subway seats, flipping through the pages of some lycanthropy book that Derek had lent him.

"Could you possibly get any more boring?" Erica questioned, stumbling slightly as she stepped into the abandoned subway car. The smell hit Boyd immediately, sweat and booze and the stench of multiple guys. Had Derek been there, Boyd was sure that she would have been reprimanded for being so reckless, but as had been the case as of lately, Derek had disappeared once again and left them not the slightest clue of where he was going or when he would be back.

Setting the book down, Boyd rose to his feet and made his way over to then less-than-pleased blonde and, despite her protests, helped her settle into one of the crudely set up cots in the back of the car. With a soft grunt, Erica dropped onto the pile of blankets, struggling for a moment to get off her leather jacket before Boyd intervened and easily pulled it off of her.

As Boyd moved to turn away, Erica grabbed him by the wrist, gazing up at him lazily. "You should really get out more," she stated rather flatly, snorting to herself a moment later at the thought of Boyd actually going to a party and socializing with anyone. Shrugging off her grip, Boyd stood up quickly, grabbing his book before heading out of the subway car. "Night," he called over his shoulder, the word slightly laced with annoyance.

* * *

"He cares about you."

The words slipped from Isaac's mouth as Erica was working at digging a bit of shrapnel from a bullet wound in the boy's side, which may have not been the best idea at that point in time considering her overly hot temper. Much to the curly haired boy's surprise though, Erica merely shrugged, fingers still prodding right below his ribs. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she responded, voice coming out cool but increased heart rate giving her true feelings away.

"Whatever you say, Erica," he said, grunting slightly as he felt Erica's fingers jabbing noticeably harder than she had been before.

* * *

It seemed that more and more often Derek was gone those days, leaving the three betas to their own devices, seeing as they were only sent to school when it actually suited the alpha's agenda. Although they never outright said anything to his face, they had begun to talk when he was away, annoyed at the fact that he was spending so much time with Scott, trying to coerce him into joining their pack when he still had three less than knowledgeable members and some geriatric psychopath that was hell bent on killing them all. How did Derek even expect to have a pack when this was all said and done if he couldn't even be bothered to train them apart from the times he was filled with so much rage and just wanted an excuse to break their bones?

These little meetings typically consisted of Boyd complaining to Isaac or Erica complaining to Isaac, the two hard-headed betas refusing to interact with each other more than they had to and the most fragile beta too timid to ever speak too ill of their leader. They had taken to brawling between themselves though. Sure it wasn't the great knowledge of someone who had spent their whole life as a werewolf, but it at least gave them an outlet for their aggression and somewhat helped to sharpen their combative skills. It was better than nothing.

With a clawed hand at her throat and a pair of strong knees pressed against her thighs, there wasn't much hope for escape. That didn't stop Erica from struggling though, letting out a fierce growl are her bloodied hands continued to swipe at the bulky figure that was pinning her down. "Get off of me!" she hissed, finally dropping her hands to the cracked concrete and choosing to instead glare daggers into Boyd.

Giving his partner a wary look, Boyd slowly pulled his hand away from the girl's throat, pushing himself up easily into a standing position before offering a hand to help her up. The blonde swatted his hand away, attempting to push herself up but inevitably failing and crumpling back onto the ground. Without any hesitation, the male grabbed onto either side of the hoodie that she was wearing at the shoulders and heaved her to her feet. "I don't need your help!" Erica practically screeched, reaching out to shove the boy but doing little more than aimlessly pressing her hands against him. Whether that was due to the fact that she was a bit weak from being beat or the fact that Boyd was built like a brick wall was still up in the air.

"Obviously you don't need it, but that doesn't mean you can't accept it." Boyd's dark eyes held Erica's gaze for a moment, almost as though he was searching for something, before he shrugged and stalked toward the stairs. Erica's eyes followed his large form until he was up the stairs and completely out of sight before she dropped back to the ground letting out an exasperated and somewhat painful sigh.

* * *

"This is getting ridiculous," Erica muttered, stepping out of the subway car. It was the third day in a row that they'd gone without any sort of training from Derek, and from what she'd heard from a few brief trips outside of their hideout, the Argents were gearing up for something big.

"Tell me about it." The voice seemingly came from nowhere, causing Erica to practically jump out of her own skin. So much for those heightened werewolf senses. Boyd let out a soft chuckle to himself before stepping out of the darkness, stopping a few feet short of his blonde counterpart. Scoffing to herself, Erica flipped her hair over her shoulder, willing her pulse to slow down. Just because she hadn't been paying attention didn't mean that Boyd wasn't perfectly aware of how fast her heart was racing.

If he noticed the increased heart rate, Boyd didn't say anything, choosing instead to stay focused on the topic at hand. "Isaac talked to Scott. Apparently something big is going to happen at the game and we should steer clear." The words came so easily and yet Erica could pick up on the little signs of stress that Boyd let off in saying them, the way that his pulse picked up slightly or the small bit of fear that flashed across his eyes even though he was trying to hide it. Although she would never admit it, Erica was equally as frightened, if not more.

Ever since he had received the news, Boyd had been running over every single possible scenario in his head. The good majority of them ended with he and the rest of his pack mates sliced clear in half or loaded full of wolfsbane bullets, both of which sounded equally as terrifying. There really was no other option at this point. For once in their relationship, Boyd and Erica shared a completely knowing look. Fear was clearly radiating from both of them, and yet there was a slightly comfort in realizing for the first time ever that they were a team, no matter how dysfunctional.

"We've got to leave," Erica choked out, voice barely above a whisper.

* * *

Leaving Derek had been hard for Boyd, hard for both of them actually, the need to stay loyal to their alpha causing the two betas great distress. Even harder for Boyd though had been leaving Erica behind to the mercy of the Argents. It had taken the boy all of around five seconds before he'd stopped his escape and turned back towards her.

Sure the spitfire blonde drove Boyd absolutely up the wall, made him want to claw his own face off half the time, which was a lot coming from someone that typically had such a nonchalant manner about everything, but at the end of the day he knew that there was something there. The way that they had shown a united front when leaving Derek and the way that they had clung to each other after realizing that they had been tricked into thinking there was another pack, those moments had made Boyd realize that Erica was all he had now and maybe, just maybe, he cared about her.

Eyes focused on Allison, Boyd stepped out from his spot in the shadows, letting out a fierce growl. If the human wanted to get to Erica then she would have to go through him first.

* * *

"Please, Allison, stop!"

The words came out choked and desperate, tears starting to freely flow from Erica's eyes as she realized that this was it. She would be forced to watch Allison kill Boyd before the bow was inevitably turned on her. The thought of Boyd dying was enough to send the blonde into more hysterics. No matter how much she pretended to hate him, there was no denying that Erica had started realizing that the things he said were for her benefit rather than an attempt to tear her down. She wasn't sure if Isaac had been right that day, when he had said that Boyd cared for her, but what she did know at that point was that she actually cared about Boyd. She cared about Boyd more than anything.

* * *

They weren't dead, and neither of them were even sure if they were going to die at that point either. Boyd toppled over first, severely weakened by the immense amount of arrows that were protruding from his body, the yellow slowly fading from his eyes as they turned back to their normal brown.

Erica followed shortly after, eyes fixed on the bulky figure a few feet away from her. Without even thinking her arm instinctively stretched out toward him. It took Boyd a few moments to gauge the act, but with a deep breath, he stretched a shaky hand out toward her. They were far enough away that their hands couldn't meet entirely, only enough so that their fingertips could curl into each other.

It was enough though, enough to know that they could simply hold on.


End file.
